By Cezary Podkul/ProPublica

This story was co-published with Marketplace.
When the economy nose-dived in 2008, it didn’t take long to find the crucial trigger. Wall Street banks had peddled billions of dollars in toxic securities after packing them with subprime mortgages that were sure to default.
Behind the bankers’ actions, however, stood a less-visible part of the finance industry that also came under fire. The big credit-rating firms – S&P, Moody’s and Fitch – routinely blessed the securities as safe investments. Two U.S. investigations found that raters compromised their independence under pressure from banks and the lure of profits, becoming, as the government’s official inquiry panel put it, “essential cogs in the wheel of financial destruction.”
Now there is evidence the raters also may have succumbed to pressure from the bankers in another area: The sale of billions of dollars in bonds by states and municipalities looking to quickly cash in on the massive 1998 legal settlement with Big Tobacco.

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Posted on December 26, 2014

By Steve Rhodes

City Hall causing crashes to balance budget. Plus: The Illinois GOP’s War On Christmas; Bruce Rauner’s Secret Act; A Few Of My Not-So-Favorite Things; and China’s Christmas Village.

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Posted on December 22, 2014

By Theodoric Meyer/ProPublica

President Obama pardoned 12 people and commuted the sentences of eight others, the Justice Department announced on Wednesday. Those actions still leave Obama well behind recent presidents in his use of pardons.

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Posted on December 19, 2014

By Amnesty International

On December 16th, Chicago Torture Justice Memorials (CTJM), We Charge Genocide, Project NIA and Amnesty International will hold a five-mile march, deliver a petition, reveal a list of “nice & naughty” alderpeople and hold a memorial at City Hall to demand passage of the Reparations Ordinance for Chicago Police Torture Survivors.
On October 16, 2013, a Reparations Ordinance for Chicago Police Torture Survivors was introduced in Chicago’s City Council. It has already garnered the support of 26 alderpeople, with only one additional vote needed to pass the ordinance. Passage of the ordinance is also supported by the United Nations Committee Against Torture.
Amnesty International USA’s board of directors recently sent a letter to Mayor Rahm Emanuel calling for passage of the ordinance. “As Amnesty International USA Board Members, we were happy to see your recent acknowledgement of the City of Chicago’s enduring obligations to Chicago police torture survivors, their families and their communities. We ask you to continue to show your support by helping to pave the way for a prompt public hearing where the compelling reasons for passage of the ordinance can be fully aired.”
Schedule:

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Posted on December 16, 2014

By The School Project

Watch the trailer for a short documentary that follows Rousemary Vega, a parent turned activist, through the maze of hearings and protests that preceded the largest school closings in American history.

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Posted on December 16, 2014

By Steve Rhodes

The truth about Judy Baar Topinka. Plus: Hate Worldwide and Rahm vs. the Leftovers.
Keywords: Cat Stevens, Spock’s Brain, Grayson Moorhead Securities, Marcel Pacatte, Rich Miller, Alan Keyes, Slayer, Hogan’s Heroes, Ronald Reagan, Joseph Stalin, Peggy Noonan, Torture Report, Barbara Tuchman, John Conroy, Jon Burge, Helstar, Rahm Emanuel, Bob Fioretti, Chuy Garcia, Meg Myers, Chicago.

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Posted on December 14, 2014

By Justin Elliott and Jesse Eisinger/ProPublica

In the days after Superstorm Sandy, relief organizations were overwhelmed by the chaos and enormous need. One group quickly emerged as a bright spot. While victims in New York’s hardest hit neighborhoods were stuck in the cold and dark, volunteers from the spontaneously formed Occupy Sandy became a widely praised lifeline.
Occupy Sandy was “one of the leading humanitarian groups providing relief to survivors across New York City and New Jersey,” as a government-commissioned study put it.
Yet the Red Cross, which was bungling its own aid efforts after the storm, made a decision that further hampered relief: Senior officials told staffers not to work with Occupy Sandy.

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Posted on December 11, 2014

By Kara Brandeisky and Sisi Wei/ProPublica

“The Senate began investigating the CIA’s detainee program nearly six years ago. It completed a draft of its report two years ago. On Tuesday, the Senate Intelligence Committee finally released the report’s blistering executive summary. (The full report remains classified.) What took so long? It’s a tale of White House indecisiveness, Republican opposition, and CIA snooping.”

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Posted on December 10, 2014

By Steve Rhodes

That’s easy. But thinking is hard. Plus: Rahm’s Kinky Campaign Kickoff; The Worst Reporter In Chicago; The Illusory Raise In Chicago’s Minimum Wage; Who Polices The Chicago Police? The Chicago Police.

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Posted on December 8, 2014

By Charles Ornstein, Lena Groeger and Ryann Grochowski Jones/ProPublica

This story was co-published with The New York Times’ The Upshot.
At first glance, the 2015 health plans offered by the Ohio nonprofit insurer CareSource look a lot like the ones it sold this year, in the Affordable Care Act’s first enrollment season.
The monthly premiums are nearly identical, and the deductibles are the same.
But tucked within the plans’ jargon are changes that could markedly affect how much consumers pay for health care. Generic drugs will soon be free, but the cost of expensive specialty medications will increase. Co-payments for visits to primary-care doctors will go down, but those for emergency room trips will be higher.
Millions of people nationwide bought health insurance this year through the federal government’s health insurance exchange, often through the website Healthcare.gov. Now, as they pick plans for next year, they face a complex battery of choices and changes.

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Posted on December 5, 2014